Trip mechanism for loose tine grapple hay fork



June 16, 1942. H. o. PETRASKE ET AL TRIP MECHANISM FOR 110052: TINE' GRAPPLE HAY'FORK Filed March 17, 1941 /Yl /Y T026 #420 O. PETQAS/(E JON/Y 5.01.50

BY J I 14770 NEY Patented June 16, 1942 TRIP MECHANISM FOR LOOSE TINE 'GRAPPLE HAY FORK Harry 0. Petraske and John B. Olson, Fort Atkinson, Wis., assignors to James Manufacturing Company, Fort Atkinson, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Application March 1'1, 1941, Serial No. 383,668

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to holding and trip mechanisms for loose tine grapple hay forks and has for its objects providing a mechanism which is simple, positively locked, easily released and durable.

An object of the present invention is to provide a trip mechanism for a device of the class wherein the pull rope and chain are provided with means whereby they may act to latch and unlatch the registering head and whereby the latch is positively held in engagement until the rope is pulled for releasing the registering head.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a pull rope and chain which pass over suitably positioned pulleys and engage the end of a lever having a spring retrieving device and means whereby by pulling the rope, the registering head will be pulled into its locked position and by releasing the rope, the latches will be locked in their holding position.

An object of the present invention is to provide a registering head which is at its lower end, attached to the upper ends of the tines and having on its upper end preferably a circular projecting flange and a central opening into which the pull rope chain extends.

A further object of the present invention is to provide oppositely positioned latches hingedly mounted intermediate their lengths and having inwardly extending hooks at their lower ends adapted to engage the bottom surface of said circular flange on opposite sides thereof and having projections adapted to engage the top of said registering head whereby the head will act to positively move the latches into engagement with the circular flange.

To these and other useful ends, our invention consists of parts, combinations of parts, or their equivalents, and mode of operation, as hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of our device.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the device on line 22 of Figure 3.

Fig. 3 is a section through the device on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

As thus illustrated, reference character A designates the main head of the device in its entirety, B designates the registering head of the device in its entirety and C designates the four tines. The tines are preferably shaped as illustrated, the lower curved portions of which are designated by reference numeral I 0, each of which are shaped and pointed at their ends as at H and having curved portions 12 and extending further into portions I3 which are straight.

Portions I3 may be stated as being nearly at right angle to portions i not including the lower ends of the tines which are considerably curved, as illustrated.

Members 13 are each provided with rings at their upper ends as at M and openings intermediate their ends as at l to which the lower ends of chains l5 are secured. Chains it are secured to the outer ends of head A, as illustrated.

Member B is secured to rings I l by means of chains ll. This member is provided with an elongated neck l3 having at its upper end an enlarged frustrum-like extension Hi, the lower end being cupped out as at 20.

We provide a chain 2|, one end of which extends into an opening 22 in member B and being secured to this member near its bottom by means 'of' a rivet 23 (see Figures 2 and 3). We provide a pull rope 24 which is secured to the other end of chain 2!.

Head A is preferably made from two parts which are riveted together, as illustrated, the outer ends of each half being provided with projections 32-32 which are spaced transversely, each having an opening 33-33 for the reception of bolts 34 which extend through the upper ends of chains l6 thus the tines are secured to head A by means of the chains, as illustrated.

Member A is provided at its upper side with projections 35 having an enlarged opening 36 to which the operating rope is attached in a manner which is too well known to require further description. The upper ends of projections 35 are preferably riveted together as at 31. Member A comprises two flat pieces 40 and 4|, the center being widened into side members 42 and 33, leaving room for the trip mechanism.

Member 43 is provided with an outlet at one side as at 44 into which a lever 45 is pivoted as at 46. A guide member 41 is pivoted to lever 45 as at 49 having a spring 48. Member 41 slidably extends through an opening as at 59 in an extension of member 43 thus lever 45 will be yieldingly forced into the position shown in Figure 2. The outer end of member 45 is provided with a rotatably mounted sheave pulley 5|.

Member 43 is also provided with flanges 52-52 between which a sheave pulley 53 is rotatably mounted as at 54. Another pair of spaced flanges 55 forms a part of member 43 between which sheave pulley 56 is rotatably mounted on a bolt 57 Lever 45 and pulleys 5|, 53, and 55 all lie in a vertical plane. Pulley 53 is positioned so as to hold the part of the chain which extends into opening 22 nearly vertical so as to not pull member B out of alignment with the device.

It will be seen, by scrutinizing Figure 2, that when the rope which is attached to member 2| is pulled, lever 45 at its outer end will be moved downward and the inner end of this lever, designated by numeral 58, is lifted. Member 58 is provided with an opening 59 through which chain 2| loosely extends.

We provide a pair of latches or hooks 6060 which fit loosely between members 42 and 43 and are pivoted thereto intermediate their ends as at 65, the lower ends being extended downwardly a distance and then inwardly as at 66. Surface 66 is designed to fit snugly against the lower surface of member l9.

The upper ends of members 66 extend upwardly and inwardly as at 61-61. Each of these members (see Figures 2 and 3) is provided with inward projections 66 and 69. Member 69 is arranged in the path of member l9 and member 68 is arranged to lie above member 69 (see Fi ure 3).

Clearly when member B is pulled upwardly into head A and hooks 66 are spread far enough by gravity to permit entrance of member B into the head, the top of this member will contact member 69. B will then force hooks 66 under member I9 and then when the rope is released quickly, lever extension '58 which is made the proper width, will drop between surfaces 10-10 which form the inner top surfaces of members 61. Thus, as long as the rope is left free, members 66 cannot move from under member I9. If however the rope is pulled so as to move member 58 from between surfaces 1!), and then released slowly, member B will be permitted to drop closing the space between surfaces Ill, thus to make member 58 ineffective and the load of hay will be shifted to chains I6 and the bottom ends of the tines will be caused'to spread and release the hay.

While simplicity and convenience of manufacture is an important item in a device of the class,

A further lifting effect of member the most important item is accuracy of action. Clearly there is positive means for locking member B into member A and for releasing member B; thus making it possible for the operator to positively drop the hay at will and insure against its dropping by accident and also to insure convenience in gathering a load of hay and looking the load into position on the device.

It will be noted that Figure 1 illustrates the device after member B has been released and at the moment when the weight of the hay is applied to chains [6 and is about to be released from the tines, connections I5, being positioned in members I2 so the pull of the chains IE will permit the hay to be released.

Clearly many minor detail changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as recited in the appended claim.

Having thus shown and described our invention, we claim:

A device of the class described, comprising an elongated horizontally arranged main head, a registering head having an enlarged frustrumlike extension at its top, one or more pairs of L-shaped tines having chain connections intermediate their upper ends to the adjacent ends of said main head, chains forming operating connections between the bottom of said registering head and the free upper ends of said tines, a pair of spaced levers pivoted intermediate their ends to said main head and having inturned hooks on their bottoms, a spring actuated lever pivoted intermediate its ends to said main head, a chain secured to said registering head and extending upwardly and then outwardly and then operatively engaging the outer end of said lever, means adapted to cause said hooks to engage the bottom of said extension when said chain is pulled to its limit, and to lock said hooks in their engaged position when said chain is pulled to its extreme position and released quickly and permit said hooks to be disengaged when the chain is pulled to its extreme position and released slowly.

HARRY O. PETRASKE. JOHN B. OLSON. 

